By Unathi Kondile
Common to anyone encouraging learners to take up indigenous languages as an area of study and career advancement is the parental retort: “Umntwana wam uzakusebenza phi ngalo nto?” (Where will my child get a job with that language?)
As a language activist or educator you would be hard pressed to provide a tangible response to this clichéd question.
You might understand that language is not just a neutral medium of communicating, but rather a complicated process of self-actualisation.
Through language you become. Through language you exist. How do you sell that to a parent and child?
We find ourselves in a country where we are a majority with minority languages when it comes to the economics of this country.
Spreading the gospel of the importance of indigenous languages is inhibited by our past and current state of poverty. You cannot espouse ideals of language importance to someone who is staring at hunger. You would have to commercialise the idea of language and not merely sell the ideological importance of indigenous languages.
“Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward …” said Amilcar Cabral (1965) in his Tell no lies, Claim no easy victories article.
Fifty-five years later Cabral’s words ring true. What is the material benefit of this ideal proliferation of indigenous languages we advocate for? People want money. They want to make a living. Live better. Can indigenous languages make provisions for that? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”
We will, however, have to overcome the nostalgia that accompanies language gatherings. We will, for a second, have to overlook the self-criticism and overly stoic guidelines of how we should write our indigenous languages. We further have to, for a while, look beyond history. The Jabavus, Mqhayis,
Sogas, Gqobas, Mgqwethos and many more played their part. They too never wrote our languages perfectly, but they kept on going. We, too, should march forward. The Eastern Cape Provincial Languages Indaba, in King William’s Town from October 14 to 16, presents this very opportunity where various stakeholders from the government to the private sector converge under one roof to deliberate on matters pertaining to indigenous languages.
From Professor Pamela Maseko to Professor Ncedile Saule to the MEC of Arts and Culture, Fezeka Nkomonye, there should sure be tangible outcomes from this gathering.
Core to these discussions is the economic value of our indigenous languages. People must make money from indigenous languages. In shining the spotlight on indigenous languages and multilingualism we must bear in mind the commercialisation of languages.
The Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture is central to the way forward. We have to understand that individual will and activist attempts alone can only take us so far.
Let us look at the case of Afrikaans, a language much younger than other South African languages, which took roughly 40 years to dominate in areas of business and governance. Granted it was imposed in certain instances, but when we look at the creative economy of Afrikaans we have to understand that it was actively supported by a willing ruling party at the time. State-owned enterprises, business, education and the creative sector had active support in the development of Afrikaans.
It is time we developed a creative indigenous languages economy. Yes, the Pan SA Language Board exists, but we now need a patriotic creative movement that will oversee the commercialisation of indigenous languages. This body will oversee the production of quality indigenous language content.
Beyond poetry and novels, we need recreational books about cars, cooking, psychology, sex, alcohol, music, agriculture and business. All written in indigenous languages. Such writing must not be limited to being produced at universities. Everyone must write. Run competitions, if we have to.
It was only in 2015 that South Africa saw its first daily Xhosa newspaper, I’solezwe lesiXhosa. It is now a weekly newspaper; people loved it but because the business model relies on external factors such as advertising, it was not sustainable as a daily. This cannot be. There is no daily Sotho newspaper, no daily Venda newspaper, et cetera.
It is only the Zulu Isolezwe that exists as a daily indigenous language newspaper in this country. It employs no more than 30 people. Multiply that 30 by our indigenous languages, for each language newspaper. Opportunity is what you get. Add the various freelancers who use it as well. And you have an entire indigenous newspaper economy.
To get this right we have to own the means of production and the means of supporting these publications. Government should be the main advertiser to ensure their sustainability.
Furthermore, and especially for the Eastern Cape, printing presses should be government-owned. Case in point being the historical Lovedale Press that rented space at the back of a fruit and veg store in Alice, and has since closed its doors.
Revamp that, move it back to its original building next to Lovedale College, get modern printing machinery and let it print all provincial government publications, newspapers and books.
Palmerton Press, Clarkebury Printing Press, Mt Coke Printing Press, Tyhume Valley Printing Press all ceased to exist. Gone. They were all in our province. History will judge us harshly for being cognisant of this decline and not doing anything about it.
Beyond reviving the indigenous languages economy via printing presses, we have to support the government’s attempts to avail all public documents in the specific indigenous languages of each province. We must go further and encourage businesses to embrace vernacular languages. Job interviews can and must be conducted in the vernacular.
The indigenous languages economy lacks copywriters, editors, scriptwriters, designers, web developers, app developers and many more. Imagine a vehicle’s GPS system telling you, “Jika, jika! Hay’ke andikwazi uyaphi! Uyiphosile! Kwakufuneka uyojikela ngeSteve Biko road, ubuye …!”
We have much to imagine when it comes to the economics of indigenous languages. We have barely scratched the surface.
* Kondile is the founding editor of I’solezwe lesiXhosa.